READING: Matthew Ch 25 v 14 -30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things, Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
SERMON: “A Story of Three Servants (The Parable of the Talents)”
The purpose of today’s parable is to tell us something about God and about how things are in the world that he blesses. Events in the story are meant to be noticed and thought about. It does this by telling us stories about things that we can understand and experience each day – things that we may be familiar with.
In parables there is usually an unexpected twist. There is, as it were, a riddle – something that confounds us – and it is from this fact that these stories get their name.
The number of the servants in today’s story isn’t important, but the fact that the master entrusts them with his enormous wealth is important. All that the master owns is in their hands albeit each in a different amount.
And that matches our experience doesn’t it? The good things of this earth – the wealth, the power the ease and comfort are distributed widely and unevenly.
But that is not what this parable is about when it speaks of coins or, in the more traditional translations, talents. Talents were a measure of silver equal to about 15 years of income for a common worker of the land or carpenter in a shop at that time.
But rather it is more about the unique wealth that God distributes to his chosen people to his servants, to you and me. The wealth and riches of the gospel as we Christians understand it. God has given to each of us a measure of all that he has! Some have more, some less but each has – more than enough – in fact an incredible abundance.
Verses14-15 For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.
The first servant receives ten talents which was enough to cover more than 150 years of labour. The third servant – the one talent person – the person we often think of has having a very little but still having something – had the equivalent of 15 years of work free living given to him.
And then look what happens when we read verses16-18. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
As soon as the master was gone – the first servant, the second servant, and third servant take action. The first two immediately invest the money – they spend it in other words in the hope of receiving even more than they first had.
They take a chance in other words and engage in some sort of venture – a venture in which – as we all know from the laws of business and high finance – there is always a chance of losing everything.
And they don’t delay about this. They immediately leap into action.
As does the third servant, he takes his precious treasure – and he does what the rules of the day suggest that he should do – that he ought to do – he carefully buries it. Keeping it safe till the day of his master’s return – he does the equivalent of putting his funds into a safety deposit box rather than invest it. He is being cautious. What’s wrong with being cautious you may ask? Discretion and being cautious are virtues are they not, not vices?
As we find out when the master returns and each servant is asked to give an accounting for what has been entrusted to him, the third servant regards his master as a harsh man – a man who would not take kindly to any form of loss – and so he deems it better to preserve his own safety and security by keeping the money safe rather than to risk everything by risking the loss of the money.
It was an accepted financial practice in the day of Jesus to safeguard precious things by burying them and kept safe until the day it is needed. Therefore the one talent servant does nothing unusual by burying the money. He shows only what can be regarded as a high degree of caution. Indeed we may think that he is too cautious – but overall we can’t really fault him ….or can we?
The twist or surprise – the part of the parable that confounded the original hearers of the tale – is in fact in the fault that the master finds with the one talent person.
To pick up the story from verse 23 where the second servant is being commended for doubling what the master had entrusted to him.
Verses 23-30 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
So what is the problem here? Why is God so good to those who double what he has given to them, and so mean to those who simply keep what he has given them safe for his return? What has gone wrong?
I think it begins in the attitude of the third servant. “Sir, I know that you are hard to get along with. You harvest where you do not plant and gather crops where you haven’t scattered seed. I was frightened.”
The Servant was Afraid and because of his fear nothing was produced for the master. The servant was entrusted with substantial, if not astonishing wealth – and did nothing with it. He was afraid.
Nelson Mandella, once said this in a speech about fear: ‘’The kind of fear that the one talent servant seemed to have had is the kind of fear that keeps us from risking the treasure that God has given us – from sharing the gospel with deeds of love, and of power, and of commitment:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
The fear that Mandella is talking about may help us understand the slave who hid the talent in the ground.
One observation of fear is the fear of failure. The third servant’s fear and Mandella’s intuition of fear are, however, is deeper than that particular dynamic. It is profoundly spiritual in character.
His fear is rooted in the immense conflict of good and evil. It is the human tendency for sin in action. It is a refusal to act, to share our energy, stamina, health, strength, emotional well being, creativity, knowledge, wisdom, ability, gifts, graces, and even all our material possessions in response to and in accordance with God’s gracious kingdom creating, community building presence.
We have been given so much my friends. Each of us has more than enough given to us by God! More than enough faith, more than enough love, more than enough forgiveness. We have been given everything – we have been given the precious gospel of God’s grace and mercy – of his healing purpose – of his divine power – each according to what God knows we can do with it.
God knows our abilities – as the parable states that the master knew his servants abilities – and God knows that even the least well endowed is endowed with an incredible amount.
God has given each of us riches beyond measure even to the least of us – he has given more than enough.
We are in communion with the power that made the universe and we have the message and we have the ability that we need to do all that is asked of us.
What goes wrong – is attitude – is fear – and it leads, to evil. And – because we believe in a God of justice – a God who judges rightly – it leads to a bad end for the cautious- the fearful – servant – the servant who did not dare to act.
What would have happened if there had a been a fourth servant in this parable – one who had received 1 or 5 or 10 talents – and gone out and invested it – and lost it. What would have the master said then? What judgement would he make upon his careless servant.
I believe that the answer is that Master would have commended him for trying.
That he would have forgiven him for making a mistake, that he would have smiled upon him for his sincere attempt to do what was right and good with what he had been entrusted with.
But there is no need for a fourth servant in this parable for us to understand it. Because you see, if you use what God has given you – it can do naught else but multiply. It is only when you do not use what God has given you – but keep it hidden away inside your heart – where no-one can see it – where no one can benefit from it – that there is a problem.
I would like to conclude today with another scripture reading – from Matthew as well – in the 28th chapter, verses 18 to 20 – the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before ascending into heaven – or, in the parlance of today’s parable of the three servants, before going away on a long journey:
Jesus came to his disciples and said: “All authority in heaven and on earth have been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. Baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So you see we have been entrusted with all that we need to accomplish God’s will. We have been given great riches – resources greater than we can possibly need – so that we can produce fruit pleasing to God. God will not judge us for trying and failing to produce that fruit – he will only judge us if we do not try. Amen
PRAYERS:
Lord God, we give you thanks for all your gifts to us. For daily food, for health, for each breath we take, for freedom to choose – and for the gifts of your word, your power, and your love.
Our hearts are truly overwhelmed, O God, when we consider all that you are and how you have entrusted so much to us. May we be worthy of that trust – may we be a people who are unafraid to live as fully and as richly as you want us to live.
Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer
Help us O God, as followers of Jesus, to multiply all that you given us, to risk spreading your word and perhaps see it misunderstood, to gamble by loving those whom others think worthy only of hate, to take chances by doing good to those who have not done good to us.
Help us O God to be faith filled and to desire to increase your glory and your goodness in this world. Make us ones who share in both word and deed that which you have given to us.
Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer
We pray, O God, for the church here today – that it may encourage all its members to discover, develop, and use all their gifts, those of nature and those of grace.
Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer
We pray for those who are poor in body, mind or spirit… for those who are oppressed and heavy laden…. for those who are sick or in despair… Minister O God by your Spirit, and by us, to all those for whom we have prayed – and help us walk faithfully in the path of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord in your mercy … hear our prayer
Holy God, we acknowledge our divine calling, our calling to live as children of light and love, and of joy and peace all the days of our lives. We thank you for this calling and for the power you grant us through the Holy Spirit to be what you call us to be.
We thank you and we pray to you in the name of Jesus, he who taught us to pray to you as one family, saying …
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever. Amen
Revd Kevin. Priest at St.Wilfrid and St.Thomas
